Unraveling the Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Terribly Vexed

In the summer of 1849, 40 year old Edgar Allan Poe embarked on a lecture tour, he planned to raise money to start his own literary magazine. By the autumn of that year Poe was nearing the end of his journey and on September 27, 1849, Poe left Richmond, Virginia on his way home back to New York City.

No reliable evidence exists concerning his whereabouts until a week later on October 3rd, when he was found delirious in Baltimore at Ryan's Tavern (sometimes referred to as Gunner's Hall). A printer named Joseph Walker sent a letter requesting help to Dr. Joseph E. Snodgrass, an acquaintance of Poe. Snodgrass's first-hand account describes Poe's appearance as "repulsive", with unkempt hair, a haggard, unwashed face and "lusterless and vacant" eyes. His clothing, Snodgrass said, which included a dirty shirt but no vest and unpolished shoes, was worn and did not fit well. Dr. John Joseph Moran, who was Poe's attending physician, gave his own detailed account of Poe's appearance that day and would later give another account of Poe’s condition during the brief time in his care, but both the accounts of Snodgrass and Moran should, to some degree, be considered somewhat dubious, no official record explaining his death has ever been found.

Poe was methodical and decisive as a writer and critic, at times arrogantly confident in his own abilities, and perhaps rightly so, but life’s many troubles had left him with a grief stricken mind and in turn he would often resort to infrequent binges with alcohol and drugs to numb himself from the struggles he regularly faced. Most Poe scholars would argue, however, this doesn’t mean his mysterious disappearance and unusual reemergence was a botched suicide attempt.

Theories abound as to what may have been the ultimate cause of Poe’s demise, from hypoglycemia, tuberculosis, to rabies, a brain tumor, diabetes, syphilis, delirium tremens, epilepsy and meningeal inflammation. Other theories include the possibility of lead, mercury, and or similar toxic heavy-metal poisoning that people were routinely exposed to in the 1800’s. One of the more unusual, however probable theories involved a form of election fraud, quite popular during that time, known as “cooping.” Join us as we attempt to unravel the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe!

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LINKS:

‘A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe’ by Mark Dawidziak (2023)

‘The Enigma of Poe’ by Warren Ober and Paul Burtness (1960)

‘The Importance of Edgar Allan Poe’ by Rafael Tilton (2001)

‘Edgar Allan Poe’ by Aaron Frisch (1975)

‘Bloom’s Classic Critical Views on Edgar Allan Poe’ by Harold Bloom (2008)